About Custom Printing

With our custom printing service we can print your books here at Harvard Book Store. Interested in publishing your novel, printing a family cookbook to present to your relatives, or bringing your previously out-of-print book back into circulation? We can help!

Benefits of printing your book at Harvard Book Store:

Books are library-quality, perfect bound, acid-free paperbacks, indistinguishable from books produced by major publishing houses.

Black-and-white interiors can be printed on bright white or cream colored paper. Covers are printed in vibrant full-color with the choice between matte or semi-gloss finish.

There are no minimums, so there are no large up-front investments as usually required by self-publishing programs. You print books as you need them.

The author retains all rights to the printed work, along with complete control over layout, content, and design.

The author may choose to have his or her work on display and for sale at Harvard Book Store and at harvard.com.

The author retains rights for non-exclusive distribution and may sell books printed at Harvard Book Store through any avenue they choose.

The author sets the book price.

Modifications and alterations are allowed at any time, for an additional fee.

Personalized service from an established and internationally recognized independent bookstore.

How It Works

You provide us with print-ready PDFs, and we’ll print the books! Print-ready means you give us your book files once they are final–after the writing, editing, design, and layout have been completed, and the files are formatted according to our Submission Guidelines. You can follow our DIY Formatting and Layout Guidelines [PDF] or hire someone to help you; we'll be happy to recommend local freelance editors and designers.

You'll need to contact us to schedule an appointment for a consultation with our Print on Demand Manager! Consultations are by appointment only, so please allow a few days for scheduling. We're also happy to answer any questions you have via e-mail or over the phone.

Watch the heroic custom printing process in action!

Introducing Minimum Paige, Harvard Book Store's first ever comics anthology, printed right here on our in-house book machine. A project this bold — this heroic — could only be accomplished by the most dynamic of duos.

Your book block PDF must be the dimension you want your finished book to be. (For example, a book that is trimmed to be 6" x 9" must be submitted as a 6" x 9" PDF)

Determining your page count:

A 300-page book only uses 150 pieces of paper, printed on the front and back. When considering any blank pages, dedications, about the author pages, etc, remember to think of each physical piece of paper as 2 pages in your final book page count.

Cover requirements:

Maximum cover dimensions = 16.75” x 10.75”

Cover must be centered vertically and horizontally in landscape-oriented 17” x 11” document

No crop / registration marks

¼” bleed on all sides

Before designing your cover, you must know your spine width. To calculate this, you’ll need your number of book pages (front, core, and back matter) and the PPI (pages per inch). The PPI measurement is specific to the thickness of the paper you’re using. Harvard Book Store's standard PPI is 434 (for Springhill Opaque 60lb cream paper).

To calculate spine width:
Spine width = number of pages ÷ PPI

Note: number of pages here refers to the double-sided page count you use when you describe the length of your book. Remember to include all front and back matter, as well as any blank pages, in your final page count.

Keep in mind that the appropriate trim size for your book depends upon the number of pages & your spine width. The more pages you have, the larger your spine width will be, and the smaller your overall trim size may need to be for the cover to print properly on the 17” x 11” page.